Al Guien
by JujuBardie
Summary: Big Al appears to be a nice man, but holds a dark secret. M/M, Tonio x Al
1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary: Big Al appears to be a nice man, but hides a dark secret. Tonio x Al, other couples will be announced later.**

Al Guien  
>By JujuBardie<p>

**[Prologue]**

"Tonio! Hey Tonio!"

He heard a familiar voice calling for him, and he had a gut feeling that it was something bad. He turned from the direction he was staring at – one couple, sitting on the grass, having a picnic with each other. They weren't the only ones sitting on the grass, but every couple, most who brung their children along, were all having a picnic at the park. Most children could be seen running around, and the elderly sat on a bench and fed the birds. Tonio sat at the very end of the bench, with an elderly couple sitting beside him. He didn't go along with what they were doing, he only sat there to enjoy the view of peaceful lives going by. After all, he had nothing better to do anyway…

As soon as he saw the figure that the voice came from, he got up and walked away from the bench and approached the figure in the shade under a nearby tree. His face cringed at the familiar figure, giving him painful memories of love and betrayal that he had caused in the past, and as he shut his eyes tightly to dismiss them, he looked up at the man and finally spoke.

"Al…what're you doing here?" The taller man chuckled, seeming to be so happy to see Tonio, but his face didn't seem to match his feeling; his entire face was red, especially his swollen eyes. His face seemed to be healing from month-old scars left from what seemed to be from a cat.

"Tonio…it's been such a long time." Trying hard not to violently remove Al's stitches on his forehead, Tonio had some restraint, and decided to just have a polite conversation with Al – but it was difficult when he just hated the shit out of him.

"Yup. Sure has. A lot has happened in just 5 months."

"Like what?" Al smiled at him, and Tonio looked away from him, by looking at the trunk of the tree instead.

"I met this wonderful girl named Luka…was it _Marjorie_? Well, anyway, she's Japanese, but she's still learning English because she hasn't lived here in America for very long. I'm trying the best I can to help her improve her English." Al still had that unusual cheerful smile on his gloomy face, and replied,

"That's great!"

"And what have you done lately?" Tonio said, and Al added another chuckle.

"I've been seeing Meiko." Tonio never heard this name, and asked who she was, to know more about this woman who could actually stand Al.

"She's my therapist." In response to this, Tonio's eyebrows rose up in surprise, although he wasn't really surprised.

"What does she have you do?" As if he were about to laugh, Al responded:

"Silly! She helps me!"

It seemed, to Tonio, that Al was holding back. He wasn't telling him much about anything, and it angered him so much to see how the bigger man was acting. Al seemed so happy, yet he was…kinda off. What disturbed him most, however, was that smile. He could tell his smile was a fake, that it was there just to be there. But for knowing Al so well and for so long, Tonio knew this behavior wasn't so unusual and he tried to shrug that off.

But that smile still kept on staring at him, and he continued to resist turning that face into a scarred, bruised carcass.

Al then proceeded to stretch out his arms and hands to cup Tonio's face, but when his fingertips actually managed to touch his beard, Tonio stepped back, cautious at this sudden movement. For only a quarter of a second, he saw a hurt expression on the taller man's face, but he ignored it, giving him a violent glare instead.

"Y-You look great...just like always." Al whimpered, his eyes watering and his hands shaking before him. He then put them down, looking down on the ground in total gloom, despite the fact that that smile still hadn't completely gone away yet, and shutting his eyes tightly to fight the tears. Suddenly, as if he had forgotten something, he jumped up, even making Tonio flinch a bit.

He quickly rolled up his sleeve and checked on his watch, then let out a big gasp. "Oh my! I gotta go Tonio! I have to get back, or Meiko will have that talk with me again...that always makes me nervous." He then gave Tonio a quick pat on the shoulder, "It was nice to see you again!", and quickly took off to the therapy center. Tonio continued to observe Al for a couple more seconds, and then turned away, tightening his trembling fists, despite his attempts to keep himself calm.

"That bastard…acting as if nothing ever happened."

* * *

><p><strong>[1]<strong>

Ten months ago…

Nighttime. The perfect time to sit in a table on top of the roof of a restaurant, the perfect time to sit with your pretty companion, and the perfect time to stare at the bright, shining moon together. Although they weren't really in a relationship anymore, Tonio and Prima still went on "dates" with each other. They enjoyed drinking their martinis and wine with each other, and doing that on top of the Italian restaurant that they always ate at together made it much better. After all, they were the only ones who were able to dine on the roof, since they were famous singers.

Tonio continued to look up at the moon, with one hand on his martini glass, and the other, whose thumb was slowly stroking on Prima's delicate little fingers, her knife-sharp nails polished in violet. Prima stared at the moon too, but was also distracted by Tonio's stroking, so her eyes darted at the moon, then to his hand, back and forth. With her free hand, she flipped her hair back and picked up her wine glass to take a sip.

"How's Ann been?" she muttered out, thinking about her good ol' friend, whom she hadn't seen in weeks.

"She's been well...at least that's what I've heard. Haven't spoken to her in a long time. She hasn't been doing so well with her love life however. She even took her anger out on poor Lola when she scratched her in the face after she learned that Leon was a homosexual. Lola's face has been covered in bandages ever since. And Ann plans to injure Leon too whenever she has the chance. Doesn't sound well to me." After Tonio's explanation, Prima let out a big gasp and covered her mouth in shock.

"Ann? Sweet Ann? She sounds more sour to me than sweet! That poor thing…I can't even picture her doing those barbaric things! What has gotten into her? Don't tell me her depression's gone worse…" Excluding Prima whispering a bunch of oh mys and oh dears, and the cars driving below, it was completely silent. The soprano covered her face, and uttered out:

"Poor beautiful Lola…imagine her face now…Oh I don't even want to think about it!" She then stood up, yanking her hand away from Tonio's, and covered her face with both hands, terrified at what became of Ann. Standing on the edge of the roof, she avoided looking down at the concrete ground. At the sight of the moon, she uncovered her eyes and stared into the lunar light for a moment; it seemed to be calming her down. She sat back down and took Tonio's hand, apologizing for her sudden, but overdramatic outburst.

"What does she think of Al?"

"Al?" Tonio said, and just the name of this fellow made him flash some red and look down. "She…she doesn't like him. Why do you care?" Prima saw this reaction, and smiled,

"Oh? What's this? Why do you blush when I say Al's name, Tonio dear?" She chuckled a bit, putting the bearded man's hand to her face.

"Oh Antonio…you're still shy, just like that time we fell in love. It's so nice to watch you act so…_feminine_; especially when you mention such a sweet man…I need to see that more often." But to her shock and dismay, Tonio yanked his hand away, stood up and walked back to the staircase under the roof.

"Tonio, wait!" Prima yelled out, lifting up her arm. That was all she could do, she couldn't stop him; she understood that when it came to sensitive subjects such as love, Tonio always found a way to avoid it. She giggled to herself, enjoying her partner's strange behavior, and looked back up at the moon, sipping on her wine.

...

"Feminine, she says."

Tonio snarled to himself, feeling humiliated by the awkward moment up on the roof. How dare she mention Al! He hated the fact that Prima knew him so well, could easily track his movements unlike anyone else. She had always kept a hawk's eye on him and it disturbed him greatly, even though she was once his lover. He exited the restaurant and sat by the entrance door. He covered his face, as thoughts of Al's innocent face invaded his mind.

It seemed as if his time with Prima had inspired him to go find Al and tell him how he felt. Sadly, he felt rejected when he was around Al in the past; every time he'd come in, Al always had his back turned to him, or walked out of the room. Every time he'd be brave enough to sit at the seat beside Al at the bar, there was an awkward silence between them; they pretended as if they had never been inside a bar before, looking all around the place, at the table, at all the alcohol that was available…only to avoid looking at each other. He never even spoke to Al, except a couple of hi's, but after hearing Al's soft and sweet voice reply back, his throat felt clogged up and no more words would come out, not to mention how much sweat dripped down his forehead, plus that strange feeling that came from below...

Tonio shook that thought away and massaged the bridge of his nose. Hopefully, all this would change today.

Lighting up his cigar, Tonio got up and quickly walked a couple of blocks to the bar.


	2. Chapter 2

**[2]**

Standing by the entrance to the bar, Tonio put out his cigar on the wooden wall. He knew very well that it would be rude to smoke around someone as special as Al, since the smoke might get in his eyes or throat, and/or, he just didn't like the smell of smoke whatsoever. As soon as he stepped on his cigar – and took a deep breath -, he took out a stick of gum from his pocket, opened it, and put it in his mouth; he also didn't want to disturb Al with his smoker's breath, especially when he was going to ki-…Tonio blushed and shook that thought from his head. As he chewed frantically on his gum, he inhaled and exhaled again, and entered the bar with his fingers crossed.

He glanced at a group of women chatting at their table, as he went to take his seat in front of the bartender. He was glad Al wasn't there yet, so he rested his head on the table. The long-haired bartender approached him and asked him what he wanted, and Tonio rose his head up just to answer in a soft voice: "Martini." He then put it back down as the bartender went to get him a glass of martini. Tonio waited, closing his eyes and trying to only think of the martini, but by the time he was about to fall asleep, he was suddenly interrupted by the closing of a door. Drowsily, he looked up at the entrance door, but it appeared to not have moved at all since he came in. He then looked to his left, and saw a man come out of the bathroom. Suddenly, he was wide awake and his body froze.

_Al._

As he was hiding his face a bit, looking at Al with one eye barely open, he watched Al also take a seat in front of the bartender. And of course, he took the seat beside Tonio as always – Tonio felt his body quiver a bit, almost swallowing his gum, and closed his eyes, refusing to raise his head up in order to avoid looking at that man. But his ears were still open; as the bartender approached Al after he prepared Tonio's martini, Tonio finally heard what he had been waiting to hear all day.

"Gakupo, did you hear any more about Leon and Lola?"

His worried voice sent Tonio's heart beating in a frenzy, but Tonio wouldn't let himself react to the point where Al and Gakupo would notice. He calmed himself down and continued to listen to Al's sweet voice.

"In fact, I have. Leon got attacked early this morning." Gakupo replied, his statement causing Al to gasp.

"_What?!_ Ann attacked him too?!"

"Yeah...he's in the hospital now, just like his sister. I visited him earlier; it was hard to just look at him with his head covered in all those bandages. I bet his face is pretty fucked up right now...she does have _nails_, you know." The purple haired bartender shook his head in disbelief, as Al held his head down. Realizing that Tonio was still there, waiting for his order, a dumbfounded Gakupo served him his martini.

"Oh, here you go, sir!" he chuckled. "I-I got carried away..." As Tonio raised his head up all the way to get his drink, Gakupo actually recognized his face.

"Wait a minute…don't _you_ know Leon?"

Stunned at this sudden acknowledgement, Tonio nodded his head yes. Gakupo looked back at Al and smiled.

"Do you know him?" he asked his companion, as he nudged his head to address Tonio. Al didn't reply; he only blushed and looked down on the table. Seeing this made Tonio tremble a bit all over and he felt his face grow hot as well. To avoid losing control, he put his head back down, but was quickly distracted at the loud sound of laughing. With one eye, he lifted his head a little to look back at the table of women that he saw earlier. They seemed to be having fun over there, laughing and giggling loudly, as if one of them had done something stupid. He put his head back down, feeling humiliated.

He then realized that his mouth felt empty; he had accidently swallowed his gum.

By the time Tonio was on his eighth martini glass, Al was already gone to have a private talk with Gakupo. Since Al was gone, he was able to focus and was now able to think of what he would say to the bigger man. He knew he got too choked up previously, but he was determined to never do that again, and actually get real words out of his mouth. However, he felt as if his brain were slowly deteriorating, so he stopped drinking his cocktail and ate the olives instead, leaving the toothpicks by his glass when he finished each olive.

To get Al out of his thoughts for a moment, he thought of Leon; poor, poor Leon, all bandaged up in a hospital bed, as if his head was that of a mummy's. Leon was just too sweet to have that kind of brutality thrown on him; so was Lola, who was only used as Sweet Ann's scratching toy. Tonio knew she was due to be released in the next couple of days, and he hoped she would look just as beautiful as before. He wished he could fix the problem between his "cousins" and Ann, but he didn't want to risk the thought of going to the hospital with a bloodied and scarred face. He wondered if he was able to visit them later.

When he was about finished with his third and final olive, Tonio paused and raised his head up to see Al and Gakupo coming back from the backroom. Al went back to his seat by Tonio, which would've made Tonio blush, but Tonio was so intoxicated, he actually managed to control himself. He also gained the courage to glance at Al…but there was something different about him. Al's reddened face stared down at the table again, as he chewed on his thumbnail. What exactly did he and Gakupo talk about, Tonio wondered. Tonio looked back at Gakupo, and Gakupo gave him a smile, which kind-of surprised him a bit. Feeling suspicious, he looked back at Al, and managed to say two words:

"What's wrong?"

To his amazement, Al looked back up at him – he was staring right back at him! – and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. A drop of sweat went down from Al's forehead and Tonio thought he saw Al's bigger hands shaking. As Al opened his mouth to speak again, Tonio picked up and held out his olive, still attached to a toothpick, towards Al.

"Want it?" he asked, giving him a small smirk. Astonished, Al looked at the olive, and then back at Gakupo, who was stuck with a puzzled expression the whole time. Since he didn't help at all, Al felt pressured and had no other choice. He took out his hand to get the olive, but Tonio quickly grabbed his wrist.

"Use your mouth. You won't be able to eat without it," he chuckled a bit, putting the olive closer to Al's lips. Al's face turned a darker shade of red, and gulped. He slowly came closer to the green little bead, opening his mouth until he engulfed the olive and starting chewing on it.

Still restraining himself from losing total control of his sanity, Tonio managed to smile at Al and he was proud that he suddenly felt a bunch of confidence just because of one olive. Suddenly, he wasn't so shy anymore. Suddenly, he wasn't so closed up anymore. Suddenly, he felt free, and he felt as if he knew Al for a long time…well, he did, but this time, he knew him a lot better. He then held out his hand and said,

"I'm Tonio. And you must be Al?"

"Yes, and I already knew that," Al replied, shaking the man's hand as he smiled back at him.

"I think we should visit Leon and Lola, in case they're feeling lonely…"

As they let each other go, Gakupo added, "No, it's too late. They told the hospital to not allow visits after 9pm, because they will both be asleep at that time and they don't want any 'disturbance'."

"Hehe...it's just like them to do that..." Al groaned, his head hanging low. Tonio then raised it back up with his hand. "How about walking around town with me?" he asked him. Al smiled at him and nodded his head yes.

At that moment, as he gazed into Al's eyes, Tonio felt a bit faint. His sight began to grow dark, and his bones seemed to become weak. He felt this sinking feeling, yet he was sitting perfectly still.

And then, everything went black and Tonio seemed to have vanished out of existence.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: After over a year, I have finally finished Chapter 3! I know it's been a long wait, and I'm truly sorry about that. Laziness and work do not mix very well. I thought I'd never finish this, but I did it! Thank you for all the support so far! Enjoy! - Bardie**

[3]

The bright lights emitting from the window hit Tonio straight in the face. As he slowly started to open his eyes, he was hit yet again with a painful headache. Quickly closing the curtains of the bright window, he held his aching head as he realized that he was no longer at the bar with Al and Gakupo.

The room he was in was a bit small, probably qualifying as being in an apartment building. The wallpaper was brown and sagging with age, the light bulb above was so dull that even the sunlight from the window had given off more light, and the floor beneath the bed was covered with crumbled paper, dirty clothes, and empty martini bottles. However, there seemed to be a path made to get the mess out of the way so he could get to his bed.

But he didn't remember heading home last night.

He was so hung over that it took him a while to realize that he had woke up on his own bed in his own room in his own apartment place. Still clutching onto his aching head, he tried to recall the events on the night prior, but to no avail.

What puzzled him even more, however, was that his shirt was gone and the button and zipper of his pants were undone.

He may have gone into a drunken frenzy and masturbated at the thought of Al, he thought. After all, he did remember being pretty tense around the younger, well-built man. He was also proud of the fact that he had finally spoke to him, acknowledging him of his own existence. He also recalled his somewhat-romantic encounter with Al, as he seductively fed him olives from his martini glasses. To his delight, Al had actually seemed to respond to his advances. However, he could not remember what had happened after that, except being enveloped in total darkness.

But then he tried to figure out how he actually got home in the first place. If he went on his own, then it's a wonder that police didn't catch a drunken man stumbling in the streets, nor did a group of punks come up to him and pick on him or anything like that. He then realized that Al may have found his address somehow, and following the graciousness of his heart, felt content enough to take him home himself. Tonio had always known that Al was a pretty big hearted guy, a "gentle giant" which they called him, and he would do anything for anybody, even strangers.

That was one reason why he liked him so much.

As he buttoned and zipped up his pants, Tonio walked out of his room and ventured to the kitchen, not caring about finding the shirt that he wore the night before. He walked towards the coffee pot, picked it up, and went to the sink to fill it with 8 cups of water. Barely awake and badly hung over, he was almost unable to function at this point. As soon as he was pouring the water into the water container of the coffee pot, he had come close to giving up due to his painful headache, but kept on pouring as his arm shook. As he opened the cabinet doors to get the coffee grounds, a slip of paper fell off and he caught it quickly.

The paper had nothing written on it except a simple phone number, and '_Call Me!_', with a stitched heart drawn beside it, all written in black ink pen.

A stitched heart? That could only mean one thing.

Tonio smiled. Somehow, he finally had a way to contact Al without leaving his own home. Whatever it was, it was a pretty damn good miracle. If only he weren't so drunk off his ass that night...

He then heard a 'ping!', coming from his room. Knowing it was his phone, he abandoned the coffee pot and paced back to his bed and found a new notification. And of course, it was a text from Al himself:

_Morning sweetie! Had a great time last night! _

Although he honestly had no idea what the other man was talking about, Tonio replied, as his current hangover state was jeopardizing his vocabulary,

_Me tooo had fun ceein ya_

He settled his phone back onto the edge of his pillow and went to the bathroom to wash his groggy face.

When he was drying his face off with the towel, he heard another ping from his room. He rushed back to get his phone and again, there was a new message from Al,

_Would you like to go to the park w/ me?_

The park? That meant taking romantic walks with Al. And sitting with him on the park bench. And sitting under the tree together. And talking to him about anything.

It also meant spending some time with Al...just him and Al, together.

It was just impossible for Tonio to decline the offer. He replied to the text, saying he'd agree to go and be there in a minute.

His current state had barely affected him throughout the morning. He decided to wash up some more and shave off that part of his shaggy beard that was beginning to develop on his cheeks. He combed his hair as neat as he could and put on a dash of eyeliner. He then went through the mess in his bedroom to get to his closet and took out a scarf, blue jeans, and a plain dark green shirt. After he changed from his pants from last night, he proceeded to put on his shoes and tie the laces. Finally, after he sprayed cologne on himself to get rid of the alcohol smell, he placed his phone in his pocket and put on his coat.

After making sure he was all set up, he put on his beanie and headed out of his bedroom to the front door, resisting the urge to grab his pack of cigarettes.

The park was nearly empty, except for a few parents watching their toddlers play around on the playground, as it was a bit early in the morning. A group of senior citizens happened to be there too, as some of them fed the birds, while others sat under the tree. Tonio then spotted a man slowly walking around the park. The man, who was pretty tall, stopped frequently to look at the cars passing by on the nearby street or watch the children having fun. Tonio continued to observe him for a few minutes, and he started to realize that the man was slowly starting to look familiar. As it finally dawned on him, his eyes lit up.

He just knew that was Al.

He paced himself across the park to catch up with Al, calling for him as he came closer, and since it was a bit of a long run, he was short of breath. As he looked up, he was greeted with a sweet smile on Al's face.

"Hi Tony!" Al exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Tonio for a big bear hug.

"H-hey...Al," the smaller man replied, as he was squeezed in Al's arms. Al chuckled and let him go.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Eh, I don't even remember going to sleep...I was pretty fucked up last night, huh?" Tonio replied hoarsely, and held his head which was starting to ache again. Al put his hands on Tonio's head, rubbing it as his way of nursing it.

"Yeah, I think so. I don't think you should drink so much," Al suggested, as the pair started walking.

"I'm working on it." Tonio lied, and he was ashamed to do so while right in Al's face.

The two men dismissed the topic and chose the opportunity to get to know each other a bit more as they continued to walk all morning. In one hour, the children who were at the playground, and their parents, were now gone, most likely due to day care and preschool. A few seniors remained, and Tonio and Al were the youngest people remaining in the park, making the park almost completely empty.

As they decided to settle by the big tree after walking for a long period of time, Tonio just couldn't take his eyes off of his new companion, nor could he help the fact that he was so happy. In that one stretch of time, he was already delighted to see Al's laughing face.

"...so she yelled at me sayin', '_What the hell's gotten into you?!_', and she's got this really bad Cockney accent! Well, not really, but she talks like that when she's drunk and it's pretty damn funny! I've never seen a woman so drunk in my life...one moment, I'm sharing drinks with her, then the next moment, she's throwing bottles at me like I did something wrong!"

Tonio was making himself laugh while sharing memories of dating Prima. He was happy to see that Al too, was still laughing along with him, even when he was still telling his story. He never really talked to anyone about his personal life, but Al was an exception. Al never seemed to judge him in anyway possible, especially when he arrived at the topic where he and Prima finally separated. Unlike anyone else he's ever talked to, with the exception of Prima, the big man always offered his full, undivided attention to Tonio, and it meant a lot to him, whom everyone else thought of as just a sloppy ol' drunk.

"Aww, Tony..." Al finally spoke again, wrapping his arm around Tonio's shoulder.

"What? She's better off without me. I had a huge drinking problem then...still do," Tonio added bitterly, looking away from the stitched man's gaze.

"So what? I don't understand why she'd leave a wonderful man like you. I've known you for a while now, and I really like you. You can do whatever you want, I don't mind a bit...as long as you drink less. I just really like you," Al stated, his tone now serious and concerned and his face taking in a light shade of pink.

"...you're serious?" the smaller man replied, arching an eyebrow at his partner. He's certainly never seen this side of Al before - yet he was quite impressed.

Al seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking down on the soft, short grass, and after almost a minute, he looked back at Tonio's eyes.

"Yeah," he whispered softly, the shade of pink on his cheeks now darkening a little.

Tonio made a small smirk. He leaned in closer to the younger man's face to the point where Al couldn't do anything but give a dumbfounded stare. Touching Al's upper lip with the hairs of his beard, he pressed his lips against Al's. They stayed like that for a moment. Tonio was so entranced in the kiss that he would not break away, and his eyes remained closed. He wondered how Al felt; he thought he could feel the big man's hand clutching upon his shoulder.

After what seemed to be a while, the two men separated, as they started to gaze at each other's eyes. Without looking away, Tonio began to dig into his coat pocket, but his hand only felt the fabric of the coat and maybe a piece of fuzz. He pulled out the fuzz and looked down at it solemnly.

As he felt Al's stare upon him, he remembered that he had left his pack of cigarettes back at home.


End file.
